507 



tiou and the Oil Pollution Convention will then be sent to the member govern- 

 ments, along with other recommendations, prior to consideration at an extra- 

 ordiary session of the IMCO Assembly, which has been scheduled for this pur- 

 pose in the fall of 19G8. This Assembly session, which will Avind up the first phase 

 of the program, could not be scheduled earlier since both conventions require 

 that proposed amendments be submitted to the governments at least six months 

 before the Assembly. 



In addition to the technical subcommittees, a newly-formed IMCO Legal Com- 

 mittee has been actively studying legal aspects of the problem. The Committee 

 and two of its working groups met in June, September, and November, and are 

 scheduled for further meetings in April and June. If the Legal Committee has 

 any recommendations ready by the time of the extraordinary Assembly they will 

 be considered along with the rest of the pacliage, but it appears likely that the 

 main part of this group's work will have to be completed at a later date. 



Mr. Keitpi. One of my staff advises me that the Subcommittee on 

 Safety of Navigation and Oil Pollution has submitted their report to 

 IMCO, three more reports are due and the State Department does 

 have those reports. So if we could have a confirmation of that. 



Mr. Lennon. The U.S. delegation to the UN, headed by Mr. Gold- 

 berg, were the cosponsors of the seabed resolution and in effect created 

 the ad hoc committee. 



Mr. Pollack. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Lennon. I have a copy of a statement here made by Mr. Gold- 

 berg in which he states that his delegation are sxDonsors of this resolu- 

 tion. I also have a draft resolution on seabeds. Was that resolution 

 adopted or was it tabled ? 



Mr. Pollack. May I ask Mr. Popper to respond to that ? 

 _ Mr. Lennon". This resolution was cosponsored by the U.S. delega- 

 tion headed by Mr. Goldberg. Was it adopted or was it tabled? 



My. Popper. The resolution which we cosponsored along with 43 

 other countries has been adopted by the Political Committee of the 

 General Assembly. Final adoption should take place in a few days. 



Mr. Leintnon. I would appreciate it if you would look at this and 

 tell us what you mean by this resolution dated December 7, 1967, and 

 it is the same date, December 7, 1967, as the statement in explanation 

 of the resolution on seabeds. 



Mr. Popper. What happened was this : A number of countries pro- 

 duced draft resolutions. A working group was appointed to winnow out 

 the drafts. Some 40 countries participated and at one time they had a 

 drafting group of six. The result was the draft resolution in your 

 hand. 



The word "tabled" in the UN means introduced. It is not used in the 

 congressional sense at all. 



Mr. Leknon. In Mr. Goldberg's statement, I notice he said his 

 delegation had proposed that the Assembly take a step more substantial 

 than the creation of the ad hoc committee. He does not explain just 

 what "more substantial" step the U.S. delegation wants to take, but 

 he makes it crystal clear they should do something more because he 

 says that the result of the ad hoc committee will be to inform the 

 General Assembly on this question, and on the basis of that informa- 

 tion he believes the General Assembly may well wish to establish a 

 committee on the oceans. So I would assume the original position of 

 the U.S. delegation was that it wanted to move on the creation of a 

 committee on the oceans and this was the initial step. Is that a fair 

 conclusion ? 



